The March People’s Choice Award goes to…

The people have spoken… The March People’s Choice Award goes to Blaire Battle, for their play, BODY SHOP, presented as a staged reading at Monday Night PlayGround on March 10th live at Broadwater Second Stage and simulcast via Vimeo Livestream. Congratulations, Blaire!

Courtesy of Blaire, we’re pleased to share the first two pages from the award-winning script. Enjoy!

Body Shop
by
Blaire Battle

CHARACTERS:

NOTE: Red is a cybernetic organism, and switches bodies throughout the play. For clarity the actors are referred to here as Red/F for her original, female form, and Red/M for the male body she switches into.

* RED/F: 20s-30s, Female. Red’s preferred form, and the preferred form of her clients. A 6th generation cybernetic organism, she’s basically a human brain in a very pretty robot body. Works as a dancer at a seedy club to pay for her upgrades. Just wants to be perfect.

*RED/M: Any age older than Red/F, Male. A disused body that Red finds herself transferred into. Should be able to portray the disconnect between Red’s high femme mannerisms and a man’s body.

*JULES: 20s-30s, Transfemme. Transgender transhumanist body mechanic. Surprisingly conservative in her own appearance, considering her profession. Long history with Red.

A man lies motionless on a table. Underneath it, a woman
in coveralls tinkers with the bottom of the table like a
mechanic on a car.

Enter Red/F, a woman who’s long discarded her
physically body in favor of a mechanical one. She moves
with a slightly otherworldly coldness.

JULES
(From under the table) Welcome to the Body Shop, where we build you better. Our bionic solutions are–oh, hey Red. I didn’t recognize you there.

RED/F
Jules, I need a tune up.

Jules slides out of the table

JULES
Shit, are the new parts bugging? We got some complaints about sparking arms, I can force a patch through right now.

RED/F
No. I just…I took some damage. Receptors won’t come back online.

JULES
Alright. Let me see what we’re working with.

Jules grabs Red/F’s hand

Can you feel this?

Red/F shakes her hand.

JULES
This?

Moves her hand up her arm. Shakes her head again. They
lock eyes for a moment. Then, Jules breaks it.

JULES
Are all your cybernetic nerves frozen?

Red/F nods.

JULES
What happened?

RED/F
Just some wear and tear.

JULES
(Disbelieving) Right.

Jules takes out a screwdriver from her coveralls. Mimes
removing a panel on Red’s back, turned so the audience
can’t see.

RED/F
Dial them low for me, would you?

Jules begins to tinker with her back while talking. She
keeps trying to catch Red/F’s eyes, but Red/F just stares
ahead.

JULES
This for you, or a client?

RED/F
What’s the difference?

JULES
What model is this now, five?

RED/F
What’s the difference?

JULES
What model is this now, five?

RED/F
Six, counting my organics.

JULES
I don’t. I don’t get paid for what god did, just on what I did better than him. How long you been full chrome?

RED/F
Since V4

JULES
My four or your four?

RED/F
Your three, my four.

JULES
Then you’ve got the brain in the jar speech plenty of times. You good if I skip it?

RED/F
You’ve given it to me before.

JULES
Long term memory functional, that’s good. Just need you to e-sign the waver saying that we had this chat, you assume all the horrible complications and agonies of personhood, and so on and so forth.

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Stay tuned for Best of PlayGround-LA, celebrating six short plays originally developed through the Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series. For more info, click here!